Video stores, movies offer relief from holiday rush

December 22, 2005

By Helena Rodriguez

Once Santa has made his deliveries, the chestnuts have been roasted on an open fire and the yuletide carols have been sung, that usually means it’s movie time.

As people begin settling down from the holiday rush and realize they have time on their hands, many families will flock to the video store or movie theater, a few of the businesses in town which will actually be open on Christmas Day, the only day of the year when even major retailer, Wal-Mart, locks its doors.

“We have found that people get busy on Christmas Eve, but then on Christmas Day after they open packages and have eaten their Christmas meals, they look at each other and think, ‘Hey I need a movie!’” Peggy Goolsby, owner of Landall’s Box Office, said.

Most of the local video stores, as well as the Tower Twin Theater, will be open on Christmas Eve as well as Christmas Day. Movie Gallery will be open until 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve and then from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Christmas Day. Landall’s Box Office will be open until 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve and then will be open on Christmas Day from about 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Video World will be open on Christmas Eve until 7 p.m., but will be closed on Christmas Day since they are normally closed on Sundays.As for Tower Twin Theater, it will be open from noon to about 7:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day from 3 p.m. to midnight.

“It’s hard to say whether or not we’ll have people, you never know,” said T.C. Nusser, who has been working at Tower Twin for four months. “On Thanksgiving Day, no one showed up for the first show, but then 60 people came to the next one, so that was kind of weird.”

Sara Bulls, an employee at Movie Gallery, worked at the video store last Christmas and said Movie Gallery expects to get customers in spurts.

“Some families run out of things to do, so they come and rent movies to keep people occupied,” Bulls said. “Plus, a lot of people are getting DVD players and Xboxes, so they will be coming down to rent games and movies.”

Although movies new to DVD and video are usually released on Tuesdays, Bulls said new releases are expected on Monday and include “Into the Blue” with Paul Walker and “Dark Water.”

Movie-goers usually go into video stores on Christmas Day seeking Christmas classics, such as “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “White Christmas,” but Goolsby also recommends some nontraditional Christmas movies for the quirky at heart.

“There’s ‘Die Hard’ and ‘Gremlins,’ which were filmed during Christmas time,” she said.

Everyday movie classics also become popular during the holiday break. Goolsby said her video store has all of the top 100 movies classics named by the American Film Institute, including the No. 1 movie of all time, “Citizen Kane.”